Panasonic Continues To Grow The European Rugged Notebook And Tablet Market

Sights now set on Europe’s rugged handheld market with 55% growth

Panasonic continued to grow the European rugged notebook and tablet market in 2015, according to market analysts VDC Research. With a 66% rugged notebook and convertible share of sales and a 59% rugged tablet revenue share of sales, the Panasonic Toughbook and Toughpad range sold more devices across Europe than the rest of the rugged notebook and tablet competition combined.

Following its 20th year of continuous success in this sector, Panasonic has now set its sights on Europe’s rugged handheld market. The company grew its revenues in the sector by 55% and almost a third of its product range is now dedicated to this market.

“With continued digitalisation of sectors such as retail and manufacturing, alongside the demand for versatile rugged mobile devices in areas such as logistics and utilities, we are seeing businesses embrace our technology solutions to drive ever greater productivity and efficiency,” said Jan Kaempfer, General Manager of Marketing for Panasonic Computer Product Solutions. “Based on our customers’ feedback we continue to innovate, working with our partners to bring together the hardware form factors, software solutions, professional services and peripherals they demand to achieve their business goals. We are now bringing this same successful, customer focused approach to the rugged handheld market.”

In recent months, Panasonic has announced the world’s lightest fully rugged handheld tablets. The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-F1 & FZ-N1 handheld tablets have a unique angled rear barcode reader to protect against repetitive strain and enhance user productivity. Panasonic also introduced the world’s first fully rugged detachable notebook for business. The Toughbook CF-20 detachable device meets the needs of mobile workers that require both touchscreen tablet and notebook functionality in an ergonomic but hardwearing form. This year the company has also created its Global Docking Solutions business in Cardiff, in Wales, to meet the needs of rugged Toughbook notebook and Toughpad tablet customers requiring specialised docking solutions for their mobile workforce.

For more information, visit www.toughbook.eu.

About Panasonic System Communications Company Europe (PSCEU)
PSCEU is the European branch of Panasonic Systems Communications Company, the global B2B division of Panasonic. PSCEU’s goal is to improve the working lives of business professionals and help their organisations’ efficiency and performance. We help organisations capture, compute and communicate all sorts of information: image, voice, and textual data. Products include PBX telephone switches, document printers, professional cameras, projectors, large visual displays, rugged mobile PCs and fire alarms solutions. With around 400 staff, engineering design expertise, global project management capability and a large European partner network, PSCEU offers unrivalled capability in its markets.

PSCEU is made up of four product categories:

• Communication Solutions, including professional scanners, multifunctional printers, telephony systems and SIP terminal devices.
• Visual System Solutions, including projectors and professional displays. Panasonic offers the widest range of Visual products, and leads the European projector market with 28% revenue share. (Futuresource B2B market tracking, Q1/2014)
• Professional Camera Solutions, including Broadcast & ProAV products, security, fire alarm systems and industrial medical vision (IMV) technology. Panasonic is one of the top two professional camera vendors in Europe.
• Computer Product Solutions helps mobile workers improve productivity with its range of Toughbook rugged notebooks, Toughpad business tablets and electronic point of sales (EPOS) systems. As European market leaders, Panasonic Toughbook had a 66% revenue share of sales of rugged and durable notebooks and Panasonic Toughpad held a 59% revenue share of sales of rugged business tablets in 2015 (VDC Research, March 2016).